The Muppets Meeting Rock Stars: 31 Magical Moments

When The Muppet Show premiered in 1976, it offered an opportunity for children who had grown up watching Sesame Street to stay with Jim Henson's creations into adolescence. Throughout its five-season run as a syndicated series, The Muppet Show brought in some of the world's best-loved entertainers as guest stars, including musicians from rock, pop and country.

The series was about a TV variety show starring the Muppets that included appearances by celebrities every week. But things never went as planned, and backstage chaos threatened to derail production of each episode.

Throughout it all, Kermit the Fog -- the show's host and the only Sesame Street regular who made it to The Muppet Show -- tried to maintain order, but was regularly undercut by his tantrum-throwing pig girlfriend, bad comedians, even worse stunts, scientific experiments and cooking segments gone wrong. Toss in there a stern eagle, many, many chickens and two old cranky guys making wisecracks from a balcony box. Guest stars would often get caught up in all of it or were the unwitting cause of the turmoil. But by the end of the episode, everything was right.

The Muppet Show left the airwaves in 1981, but various reboots, with similar storylines, have continued to introduce Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Swedish Chef, Beaker, Sam the Eagle and other favorites to new generations, but with less success than the original series. Still, the Muppets' love of music has remained strong over each incarnation. Over the decades, they've worked with artists such as Elton John, Prince, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Johnny Cash, Dave Grohl, Ozzy Osbourne and many others.

Check out below to see how these musicians paired up the Muppets. We've also included some of those times when the Muppets tried their own felt hands at some of rock's most famous songs.